Chapter 22

“The temple?”

The temple was practically the warrior’s home turf.

Though there hadn’t been much connection with the temple in this timeline, we did visit briefly before heading off to fight the Demon King.

“I’ll go!”

Turning down a new event would make me a terrible player.

As my previously indifferent face brightened and I grabbed his hand enthusiastically, Adam’s expression quickly changed.

“On second thought, this might not be a good idea. Eve, how about taking a vacation instead? Don’t you miss your family?”

“Ben’s here with me. Besides, haven’t you heard the saying ‘the temple is the perfect vacation spot’?”

“No, I haven’t.”

“Well, now you have. So let’s go to the temple! When do we leave? I’m ready to go!”

“…”

Those who are prepared seize opportunities!

Seeing how eager I was, Adam sighed lightly, as if he had no choice but to give in.

“I’ll send a message letting them know we’re bringing one more person. We’ll leave at dawn tomorrow. They’ll send a horse for us.”

Adam took the bird off my arm.

The bird, which had ignored me earlier, immediately rubbed its face against Adam’s fingers, acting all affectionate.

‘It ignored me, though!’

Even the bird was ignoring me.

I’ve been playing this game for years, and now even birds are against me?

Before I could even voice my complaints, the bird, now with a note tied to its leg, flew high into the sky.

* * *

It was the day I was leaving the Demon King’s castle with Adam for the first time.

The temple! After spending so much time in the castle, I’d grown restless and bored.

The post-ending period with the warrior was a snoozefest, with no events happening at all.

‘Unless another Demon King reappears…’

Anyway, I couldn’t miss out on this new event.

Excited, I hurried down to the third floor where the warrior stayed.

Oddly enough, the warrior hadn’t woken up yet. Since I was feeling generous, I decided I’d wake him myself. Without knocking, I barged into his room.

“Warrior!”

The door wasn’t locked. This carelessness was exactly why I’d walked in on him last time…

‘Ahem.’

Inside the room, Adam was nowhere to be seen.

Surely he hadn’t left without me?

I quickly stepped inside and found Adam sleeping uncomfortably on the sofa, his body curled awkwardly.

‘Why is he sleeping out here instead of in his room?’

Judging by the books scattered all over the floor, he must’ve stayed up all night again.

Deciding to let him sleep a little longer, I started gathering up the books. There were dozens of them.

‘Why was he reading about ancient gems?’

I flipped through the book lazily. As I skimmed the pages, I stopped at a part Adam had marked with a ribbon. I was about to close the book when something familiar caught my eye.

“The obedience stone…?”

Wasn’t that the one the Demon King had?

After killing the Demon King, Adam had found it on his body. I distinctly remember seeing him turn it into a necklace…

“Ugh…”

A faint groan came from behind me.

I quickly closed the book and walked over to the sofa.

“Warrior?”

I knelt beside Adam, taking a closer look at his face.

His silver hair was drenched with sweat. What kind of dream was he having to make him like this?

It was the first time I’d seen Adam look so disheveled. He must’ve been in really bad shape.

Panicking, I raised my voice and called out to him.

“Warrior, wake up!”

I shook him and even tried lifting him, but he didn’t wake up. Ben was probably asleep by now, and if I went to find him and ran into Abraxas, it could spell trouble.

An unstable warrior could give demons like Abraxas an opportunity for rebellion.

No matter how hard I tried to wake Adam, he wouldn’t open his eyes. He occasionally let out painful groans, as if trapped in a terrible nightmare.

‘Should I go get some water and splash it on him?’

I decided to leave that as a last resort.

Frowning, I gently pressed on the furrowed spot between his brows and finally let the name I had been avoiding slip from my mouth.

“…Adam.”

“…!”

At that moment, Adam’s eyes flew open, and his unfocused golden gaze locked onto me as he grabbed my arm.

My wrist ached from the force of his grip.

So, this whole time, he had been controlling his strength.

His grip was rough and unsteady, as though he was holding onto someone he couldn’t afford to lose.

“Warrior.”

I called him again, my voice filled with concern.

It was like someone had pulled him out of deep water—his eyes slowly regained focus, and when he saw me, shock spread across his face.

“Eve, I’m so sorry.”

“No, it’s fine…”

My heart was pounding.

Adam realized he had grabbed my wrist and quickly released it, visibly startled.

“I’m truly sorry. I haven’t been sleeping well…”

“It’s really okay, Warrior.”

Though I told him it was fine, Adam continued rubbing his eyes and apologizing to me.

I was more shocked to see Adam in such a disheveled state than by the pain left in my wrist.

Adam kept running his hands over his face.

It seemed like he was still struggling to discern whether he was in a nightmare or reality.

When I tried to get closer, Adam extended his arm to keep some distance between us.

“Please, just leave me alone for a while.”

“Alright…”

And so, I was practically shooed out of the room.

I rubbed the red marks on my arm and lightly knocked my head against the wall.

‘Maybe I shouldn’t have tried to wake him. Adam probably didn’t want anyone to see him like that.’

From what I had observed, Adam was obsessive about not showing any signs of weakness to others.

That must have been why he sent me away.

However, when Adam emerged from his room a little while later, he looked completely fine, as though nothing had happened.

He wore a relaxed smile that seemed effortlessly casual.

But I wasn’t fooled, and I quickly stepped closer to ask him.

“You’re not sick, right?”

The contrast between the tormented figure I’d seen earlier and his current smiling face felt jarring.

Adam tended to smile more when things were tough, which made his usual demeanor now feel even more unsettling to me.

“It was just a bad dream. Don’t worry about it.”

It seemed too serious to dismiss as just a bad dream. I couldn’t shake the memory of his distress, which lingered in my mind.

‘Is he really okay?’

Bottling everything up like this would only lead to an explosion one day.

Stress Level: 78%

See? He’s on the edge.

Considering how much higher his stress level was compared to yesterday, that dream must’ve been awful.

‘What could cause Adam to have such a terrible dream?’

…Could it be something from his childhood?

Like me, Adam had terrible luck when it came to parents.

Bringing up such a tragic past would only make Adam suffer more.

“Got it!”

I answered energetically on purpose and followed closely behind Adam.

* * *

At the entrance of the Demon King’s castle, what awaited us was not the horses we had expected.

The temple had promised to send two horses, right?

But instead, there was an undeniably large white carriage in front of us.

The carriage bore the symbol of the temple—two crossed white wings—emblazoned boldly on its side. Someone quickly disembarked from it.

I leaned closer to Adam and whispered, “There’s a horse alright, but it came with a giant carriage.”

“I do have eyes, you know.”

Adam’s face showed clear signs of fatigue. Could it be that the nightmare was still draining his energy?

Or was he displeased with the temple’s way of handling things?

“Warrior, we’re here to escort you.”

A man approached us with a booming voice, already standing in front of us.